The sport of pole vaulting is relatively old and in vaulting, the vaulter is required to clear a crossbar which is releasably held between two standards or uprights spaced 12 to 14 feet apart on either side of a cusioned pit area.
In vaulting, the vaulter grips the pole near one or the top end with his hands spaced apart and with the other or tip end of the pole positioned away from him approximately at eye level and at an angle slightly across the body. The vaulter then begins his in run down a relatively long runway and as the end of the runway is approached, the tip or bottom end of the pole is lowered toward the plant box, a depression at the end of the runway defined by two side walls and a sloping bottom wall. The plant box is approximately centered between the standards supporting the crossbar and terminates at a front wall which is angled with respect to the sloping bottom wall at a fixed 105 degree angle.
The pole will have been fully planted in the plant box when the tip or pivot end lies adjacent the edge defined between the sloping bottom and front wall surfaces and in contact with those surfaces which cooperate to define the pivot point for the bottom of the pole. Usually, the planting of the pole is started 3 to 4 strides before the taking or jumping off point. During this time the hands have remained spread approximately 18 inches or 40 centimeters apart and will continue to remain in that condition at least throughout the initial phases of the vault. Nearing the end of the in run, the pole will be driven into the plant box and will bend into a curvilinear fashion causing the bottom end to pivot and causing the upper end to raise to the shoulder level at which point it is pressed up quickly. Pressing up of the pole should be timed so that the take-off foot is planted on the runway as the top arm on the pole is snapped to a straight up position thus helping the vaulter drive or jump off the ground effectively at the right point. Thereafter, the lead knee drives forward and up but may drop slightly after takeoff to allow the vaulter's body to hang beneath the bending pole. It is preferable that the upper arm be kept straight while the lower arm pushes the pole toward the pit in order to keep the pole out in front of the vaulter's body and to assure that it continues its forward progression toward the pit and beneath the cross bar.
The pole continues bending and moving or rotating forward toward the pit until the bottom portion abuts or comes into contact with the upper corner of the plant box adjacent the front wall and the ground surface at which point the pole will begin to finish its bending and start its catapulting action. At this time the vaulter will enter a tuck position and shoot upwardly so as to be in a position to turn and extend his hips as high as possible. At this point, the vaulter will pull or push himself into a one handed handstand facing the bar with the momentum gained from the thrust of the pole and his pulling or pushing into the hand stand allowing the vaulter to reach the apogee of his arc, hopefully clearing the bar and dropping into the pit without removing the cross-bar.
The sport of pole vaulting, however, is fast becoming a highly sophisticated and technical event requiring the integration of a number of factors, some of which include technique and gymnastic ability. Another important factor, however, is the technology that can be engineered into the equipment being used. While ability is something that can, to some extent, be gained by each vaulter, the technique used or developed is perhaps directly relatable to the quality of equipment and then can often be a cause and effect relationship.
In order to achieve the desire of going ever higher, it has been thought for some time that it is important, from a technique standpoint, to allow the body to hang beneath the continuing bending pole for as long a period as possible in order to make the most use of the vaulter's momentum. However, vaulting poles, at the present, have a limit as to how high one can hold on the pole adjacent the top end. Further, the fixed angle of 105 degrees between the bottom and front sloping surfaces of the plant box defines with the ground and the front wall a top corner of the plant box that will be hit by the pole thereby preventing the pole from attaining more than a predetermined amount of bend. These two factors together restrict the possible amount of bending and forward penetration that can be achieved even if a vaulter's technique is good. This directly effects how high a vaulter can jump and can influence the outcome of competition.